Oh and in case it's slipped past - never ever ever leave for a walk - even for a few minutes - without water. I made that mistake once (for only 20 minutes) and it's not something I'd ever care to do again.

Bear in mind that a National Parks pass is required for visiting National Parks (see http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/); yourt best bet might be the holiday pass. This allows you to visit Freycinet Peninsula, Lake St Claire, Russell Falls National Park and a whole heap of others. Of course, there are heaps of reserves that are free, includng the magnificent Mt Wellington which overlooks Hobart, has wonderful views and has a whole heap of great walks ... and caches. Only piece of advice (which applies to all of Tassie) is to be prepared for any weather: so take rain gear, sunhat, sunscreen, warm top, and good shoes.

If you want to visit Bruny Island you will need to pay to go on the ferry (it's a car ferry).

We did get the parks pass. We plan to visit a number of areas but we did eliminate the caches on Brundy Island. At this point we'll be visiting the Coal Valley area, Mt Wellington area, Wine Glass Bay (Freycinet), the Tasman peninsula, the peninsula south of Lauderdale, Mt. Fields and a few other areas. We talked about heading up to the Cradle Mountain and /or the Launceston areas but we're not sure we'll have the time. Are either worth the drive from Seven Mile Beach? We only have ten days. We also plan to be in Hobart during the market on Saturday the 27th.

We talked about heading up to the Cradle Mountain and /or the Launceston areas but we're not sure we'll have the time. Are either worth the drive from Seven Mile Beach? We only have ten days.

Yes, both are worth the drive BUT if you only have 10 days then you will have to make strategic choices and may have to leave them out. People always underestimate the time needed to see even a fraction of what Tas has to offer. You can easily fill 10 days in the southern region (places like you mentioned).

You could do Launceston and back in a day, but you wouldn't get to see all that much (probably do the gorge); if you wanted to do Cradle Mtn from Seven Mile Beach I think you'd want to allow an overnight stay: it's a fair drive and there is plenty to explore.

If you want some pseudo Cradle Mtn country without the overnight stay and long drive, go up to Mt Field National Park (allowing yourself a really full day as it is still 1-1.5 hours from Hobart), and take the road up to Lake Dobson (drive carefully on this last section: it's narrow gravel ... and you still have keep remembering to drive on the left!) and walk up to Tarn Shelf. You'll get lovely lakes, alpine shrubs, views of glaciated valleys (no glaciers of course), mountains, and there may even be a hint of snow depending on what the weather's been doing (less likely in Feb but still possible). It's not a serious only-for-the-extremely-hardy walk, but you should still go prepared as per my previous post (food and water included) and not treat it lightly. And, of course, when you drive back down to the bottom you could go and see the famous Russell Falls (this is a doddle of a walk, but truly beautiful). [Or, you could do the falls first and then Tarn Shelf]

PS You may be surprised that there aren't very many caches in Tassie's national parks, although there are quite a few elsewhere in Tas. There is no official policy so far as I know, but the Tasmanian cachers seem, in general, to have chosen not to place caches in these areas (there are some exceptions). The environment in the parks is very sensitive in places, and although you may catch yourself thinking "This'd be a great place for a cache, how come there isn't one?", enjoy the view, take a photo, and have yourself an internal smiley. I think there is probably wisdom in their unwritten decision.